It Will Be Italy In Springtime For Two Days At Dorney

March 07, 1986|by DAN HARTZELL, The Morning Call

Lido Iacocca would love it. An Italian festival for the Lehigh Valley and beyond celebrating Italian-American heritage through music, dance, a variety of entertainment and, best of all, Italian cuisine.

The event, to be called "Festa D'Italia," is scheduled May 31 and June 1 at Dorney Park, according to plans outlined yesterday in The Vineyards Restaurant, Bethlehem, by sponsors and the mayors of the three Lehigh Valley cities.

It could eventually become "the largest ethnic function of its kind on the Eastern seaboard," beamed Allentown Mayor Joseph Daddona, who is Italian- American.

The reason for this bold prediction? "Because everybody, but everybody, loves Italian food," the mayor said.

Also on hand were Salvatore Panto Jr., the mayor of Easton, also Italian- American, and Bethlehem Mayor Paul Marcincin, a Slovak-American dubbed "Marcincini" by the dozens of Italians attending yesterday's press conference, which was complete with authentic desserts and hors d'oeuvres provided by Sal Venezia, proprietor of The Vineyards.

Singer-radio personality Julius LaRosa will be the highlighted entertainer at the festival. Sponsorship help is being provided by Dorney Park, as well as by Laneco supermarkets and department stores, which are presided over by the Bartolacci family of Easton.

LaRosa shows are planned at 1 and 7 p.m. each day of the festival, and other entertainment will include a variety show from Harrah's Resort and Casino of Atlantic City, Italian opera, folk music, a dance band, Italian rock music and even the Chicken Dance done in Italian.

Tickets, $8 for each day of the festival, will cover entry to the park, to the festival area, and to all entertainment events, said Craig Cope, Dorney Park general manager. Food purchases will represent the only additional cost.

Part of the ticket proceeds will be kept as fund-raising benefits by community organizations that sell advance tickets, said Festa D'Italia President Joseph Coponi.

Advance tickets will be available at all Laneco locations and at many Italian social and educational organizations throughout the Lehigh Valley and in the Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and western New Jersey areas, Coponi said. Information can be obtained by calling the festival committee at 395-2000.

The festival committee, whichconceived the idea last fall and has watched it snowball since then, organizers said, boasts some of the most prominent Italian-Americans from the area, including Northampton County Judges Richard Grifo and Michael Franciosa and race car driver Mario Andretti.

Daddona said the festival is expected to bring about 30,000 people to the park each day, noting the economic development implications.

Marcincin likened the event to his own city's Musikfest, entering its third year this August after two highly successful festivals in 1984 and 1985.

And Panto added that Festa D'Italia would be a celebration of all ethnic origins, each of which is represented in the Lehigh Valley.

Mayor Charles Angelini of Roseto was represented by Borough Council President Louis Guida, and Mayor David Wenzel of Scranton was represented by Scranton city engineer John Luciano.

As for Iacocca, better known as Lee, the Chrysler Corp. chairman, he was invited, but organizers happened to choose the date of his daughter's wedding for the festival's opening day, they explained. "The family will be there," Daddona hastened to add of the clan that is also known for its proprietorship of the Yocco's Hot Dog chain.

If you think it's ironic that an Italian family should be famous for hot dogs, consider the anecdote related yesterday by Daddona, who attributed it to a tale contained in Iacocca's best-selling biography.

When Lee was growing up in Allentown, he sometimes took pizza to school for lunch. The Pennsylvania Dutch kids there would tease him about it, not having known the concoction before. Daddona said he had similar experiences, and noted Iacocca writes that, when you travel the country today, how many shoo-fly pie huts do you see?